Tag Archives: hector bellerin

Arsenal need to make Bundesliga star their Number 1 target

2 Replies

There is nobody better available is a common line put out by many Arsenal fans to justify our poor dealings in the transfer market.

Occasionally it is justifiable, but in the majority of occasions, there is someone else better available.

The line is also often used when we miss out on a player. Again, sometimes you can be genuinely frustrated that we missed out on an available player that is better than what we have, other times it is just idiots trying to create a stick to beat Arsene Wenger with.

One such occasion I read recently is some plonked tweet DANI ALVES IS AVAILABLE. As if it to make the point that:

  1. He is available and;
  2. He is better than what we have

This is a perfect example of fans chatting rubbish.

Dani Alves is only available because Manchester City are offering big money in terms of wages for a 34 year old, and the chance to one more work with Pep Guardiola. Alves has mutually terminated his contract with Juventus. If it was not for the Manchester City interest, Alves would not be available and would still be contract to Juventus.

Secondly, whilst Alves has had a stellar career, he is now 34. Is he really a better option than Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain or Hector Bellerin – men 10 years his junior? Alves would be a short term option, a very short term option.

So if we are going to bring up names of players who are available, and are better than what we have, let’s be sensible with it. Let’s not just name names for RTs and blog or vlog hits.

One player who is most certainly available, and is clearly better than what we have is Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. And I am baffled as to why it seems we are not in the race for him.

Of course, we could be moving up on sly like a Love Island alpha male muscling in on another man’s girl without the bloke she is currently coupled up with knowing. But at the minute, it just seems we are not interested. And it baffles me as to why not.

Here is a striker who is amongst the best in the world. A world where there are not too many top, top strikers. At 28 year old, he is at the peak of his powers. In 4 years at Borussia Dortmund he has scored 120 goals in 189 games.

Last year alone he scored 40 goals in 46 games for the German outfit.

He is big, he is strong, he is quick, and he knows where the back of the net is. And according to reports, he is available for as low as €70 million – in the current market, for a player of his ability, that is relatively cheap.

At the minute, it seems Liverpool are leading the race for him, with the offer of working alongside former manager Jurgen Klopp a key factor. But then you look at who else is in the race. Manchester United and Chelsea. But both clubs seem to have him as second choice if they are unable to sign Alvaro Morata or Romelu Lukaku respectively.

So you have two clubs interested in signing him as a second choice, and one club looking to signing him who can not really offer him the chance of winning trophies. Meanwhile Arsenal sit their with 3 FA Cups in 4 years and Danny Welbeck upront.

Aubameyang would come straight into the first team, and would surely be the type of stellar signing that makes Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil think I am staying here.

And imagine Aubameyang himself getting told Arsenal want to sign you and play you infront of Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil. It is the type of thing dreams are made of. He would get 30 league goals next seasons without even trying.

Arsenal do not have Champions League football, which might be a down point, but I am becoming a believer that players do not actually care about the Champions League – unless they win it – and just feign an interest in clubs needing to be in the Champions League to eek out an extra 10%.

I can imagine how the conversation went with Manhcester United and Henrikh Mkhitaryan went last summer.

Man U: Henrikh, we want to sign you
HM: OK, but Arsenal want to sign me, and they have Champions League football
Man U: How much is their contract offer?
HM: £120k a week
Man U: We will pay you £140k a week
HM: Deal

Not having Champions League football is not an issue. If will not affect Arsenal financially a great deal, it will just mean we have to pay a little more for Aubameyang’s services.

With Dortmund saying a deal must be done before their pre-season training starts on July 26th, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is a player who Arsenal should not just be targeting, but should be going all out to sign.

Arsenal need to play hardball over defenders future

Leave a reply

He got a lot of (unfair) criticism at Crystal Palace, which has maybe led him to fall out of love with the club a bit, and he has certainly had his head turned by Barcelona. But Arsenal need to do everything they can to keep Hector Bellerin at the club.

Whilst a reported offer of £45m is – too some – too big to turn down, if Arsenal want to win the league next year, they need to keep their key players at the club. Alexis Sanchez, Mesut Ozil, Hector Bellerin, etc.

The offer of £45m is massive, and 5 years ago we would have had to have accepted it. But Arsenal is a different place now. A club that no longer needs to sell to buy. A club that is offering £100m for an 18 year old with hardly any experience.

We reportedly have £150m to spend on transfer this summer. We do not need to inflate that amount by cashing in on Hector Bellerin. It is more important that we keep the squad strong, and together.

Some will point to the fact that Bellerin lost his place in the starting XI at the back end of last season. That he is now expendable. That £45m for what is now a squad player rather than a first teamer is something Arsenal should seriously consider. These people are incorrect.

Whilst Bellerin might have fallen down the pecking order in the later end of the season, he is a very important member of the squad.

When we play 3 at the back, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is first choice at right wing back. But the Ox has his own problems. He is injury prone. Unable to put a consistent run of games together.

Having moved to 3 at the back, the Ox played 5 of the first 6 games in the new formation. He then picked up an injury against Southampton which ruled him out of the next 3 games. He is fragile and his work load needs to be managed.

Therefore you need a top quality back up who can be rotated in to manage the Ox’s work load. Bellerin is that man.

Up the road at Tottenham, Mauricio Pochettino has shown a tendency to rotate his wing backs on almost a game by game basis. Kyle Walker and Danny Rose one week, Kieran Trippier and Ben Davies the next.

Whilst I do not think you need to change the wing backs every game, and I certainly will not be looking at a manager who has won nothing for tips, it is true that your wing backs get through a lot of work every game, and with Arsenal set to play around 50 games next season, we need to keep the squad rotated and fresh.

Oxlade-Chamberlain can not play 50 games a season. His back up needs to be of equal quality. And we have not yet even discussed the Ox’s contract situation. With one year set to run, were he to refuse to sign, it would potentially leave Arsenal without a quality right wing back. Losing Bellerin would also give even more power to the Ox who could point to the fact he will be the only decent right wing back at the club next season, and pretty much name his price.

You then have the scenario if Arsenal return to 4 at the back. With Mathieu Debuchy and Carl Jenkinson set to leave this summer, allowing Bellerin to also leave would put Arsenal in a situation where we do not have a single right back at the club – Oxlade-Chamberlain is not good enough defensively to play right back.

The other option in the squad would be Calum Chambers.

Chambers would provide good cover for a first choice full back, but I am sure we all agree that he is not at the standard required to be first choice full back. His future is at centre back, with the ability to cover a full back if needed.

If Arsenal let Bellerin go, we would then need to buy a new right back – who would probably then cost £45m and not be as good.

Bellerin signed a new 6-and-a-half year deal back in November. This will keep him with the club until 2023. Arsenal are in no rush to sell. Keep hold of Bellerin, prove to him that he will get enough game time in the new formation. Regain Champions League football next year. Get Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain on a new long term deal.

And in 2018 if Bellerin still wants to leave, F**k him off and he will still be worth £45m.

Keenos

Who could replace Hector Bellerin at Arsenal?

3 Replies

The leaves have started to begin to drop, the cold winds come from the east, the rain and hail from the sky, the clocks have gone backwards and the nights have drawn in. The John Lewis advert has had its first showing, Santa Clause has endorsed Coca-cola, the burning smell of fireworks night has worn off, and the Halloween sweets have been eaten. As minds turn to Christmas, it can mean only one thing. Arsenal are in the usual November injury crisis.

untitled

Of those injured, we have the long termers in Per Mertesacker and Danny Welbeck. We will not see them again this year. The Big German might never play in an Arsenal shirt again. Lukas Perez and Chuba Akpom were only bit-part players, so their injuries will not be massively missed, and Santi Cazorla is set to return soon – probably the PSG Champions League game.

It is this weeks two injuries that are most concerning.

Alexis Sanchez has been killed by Chile, and Hector Bellerin massacred by Spain taking the Arsenal November injury list up to 7. Of the two, early indications show that Bellerin could be out for the longest, reports of at least 4 weeks will soon turn into a 2017 return.

So what options does Arsenal have in replacing the best right back in world football?

Carl Jenkinson

Since returning from his own 8 month lay off having suffered a knee injury whilst on loan at West Ham, Jenkinson has played 180 minutes of football for Arsenal. 90 minutes in both the League Cup against Reading & Ludogorets in the Champions League. They were not exceptional performances.

What Jenkinson showed whilst on loan at West Ham is he is a competent mid-table Premier League full back. Not a world beater, but at the same time not awful. He would do a job for Arsenal at right back against 60% of Premier League sides.

Over the years, Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United were successful due to having the likes of Wes Brown, Nicky Butt and John O’Shea to call upon. None were world class players, but they were all decent Premier League players, able to perform when called upon. They gave United a bit of strength in depth, and they all loved the club.

Jenkinson falls into this category. He might not be good enough week in week out for the next 5 years to be Arsenal’s 1st choice right back, but he is certainly good enough to be our 2nd choice over that period.

What I find interesting with his situation is the boo boys who moan Arsene Wenger does not give English players enough of a chance, will today be moaning about Bellerin’s injury, and that we should not have to be relying on Carl Jenkinson.

With no game for Arsenal for 10 days, it will give Wenger and the fitness team time to get Jenkinson up to speed so he is ready for Manchester United.

Mathieu Debuchy

The alternative to Carl Jenkinson will be experienced French international Mathieu Debuchy.

He signed 2 years ago as Bacary Sagna’s replacement and, having replaced the ex-Arsenal player in the French national team, looked a good player. He then got hit by a terrible run of luck, and the break through of Hector Bellerin, which saw him marginalised at the club to the point where is was only injury that stopped him leaving this summer.

Fitness will be a worry for Debuchy. He has not played this season, appeared just 9 times for Bordeaux last season, and has appeared a total of 31 times in the last 2 and a bit seasons.

Now 31, how sharp will he be having missed so much 1st team football? Will he be able to come back and put in the solid performances he did for Newcastle in 2013? And more importantly, how is his attitude towards playing for Arsenal having spent a good part of the year trying to engineer a move away from the club?

arsenal-1st-team-squad-20162017

He was included in the Arsenal 1st team squad photo, so he has certainly not been put down yet, but it would be a big risk to play a player who has been so unhappy, so injured, in recent years.

Shkodran Mustafi

One of our stand out players this has been German international Shkodran Mustafi. The partnership alongside Laurent Koscielny is a key reason we are in the title race. Not only has Mustafi showed strength in defence, but he has also proved to be an asset bringing the ball out of defence.

Numerous times this season, when chasing the game, he has acted as an auxiliary right back, driving into the space left by Hector Bellerin allowing the Spaniard to push further up the pitch. With John Stones going for nearly £50m as a ball playing centre back, Mustafi looks like a steal.

When we signed him, there were reports that he could play right back, and had done so for Germany in their successful 2014 World Cup campaign. The truth is a little different.

He did play 3 times at right back for Germany in the 2014 World Cup. All from the bench, playing a grand total of 132 minutes.

Throughout his career, he has barely played at right back at all. Just 18 times in fact. And not since 2012/13 for Sampdoria has he done it on an even semi-regular basis.

 

Moving Mustafi out wide, to be replaced with either Rob Holding or Gabriel in the middle would be a big risk. It would basically be weakening two areas of the park. It would be a big risk.

5354

Another option for Arsenal could be to play Rob Holding at right back, and then Mustafi in the middle, but this would not be as strong as Jenkinson.

In my opinion, the best option will be Jenkinson right back, and leave the rest of the defence the same.

That way, you have a natural right back playing at right back, and inside him you have a strong centre back who is capable of pushing a bit further out to the right to protect his less experienced (but older) full back.

It would also not surprise me if, whilst Bellerin is out, we see Aaron Ramsey play on the right wing, just to give us a bit of extra defensive strength.

This could be Carl Jenkinson’s chance to shine.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

 

in%20support%20of%20rbl%20logocf8bd2_3d3d89ee53164b21b6e235b96e38b869

 

 

 

 

 

Keenos